Every MA has it strengths. The purpose of MA in my opinion in terms of SD and fighting is to give you a sense and idea of what to expect against larger or smaller opponents, and how you can take advantage of various situations. Therefore, if you can properly determine how to go about and plan things ahead of time, you'll be alot more successful and safer in executing whatever techniques you will impose, even if that technique is to run.

Quote: If you are 5.10 and 160 pounds and cant take on a dude who is 6'5 then maybe you should re-evaluate your training methods

LOL! Yeah, OK. At a minimum, the 6'5 guy has an advantage called "reach". And if you aren't used to dealing with someone who has a reach advantage, you're in for a surprise.

Moving on...

This is an excellent thread. To many people are disillusioned about being able to defeat a larger opponent, whether they are trained or not. Height, weight, strength, all of that makes a huge difference.

Ok i was surfing the net just now and came across another martial arts site like this one with a forum and almost 50% of the posts were style vs. style bashing and which would be more effective on the street and which ones are not.

I have seen endless posts on here about the same subject and i'm sure someone else has posted a post like this one before to try and put an end to it all, but i felt like writing this because i'm just kinda venting because i'm sick of all this style vs. style crap and street effectiveness.

I have been training in martial arts for over 7 years now, not a very long time i know. I hold a 1st dan in shotokan but i have also cross trained in Kajukenpo, judo and tae kwon do. All of which i saw its strong points and weak points, all martial arts have them no matter who says otherwise.

NO style is better than the other, every style has its effectiveness and it all depends on the training of the techniques and the conditioning. The martial artist has control over his/her own effectiveness by the way they train themselves.

I am thoroughly convinced that even though some masters may say otherwise that strength and size do matter, after 7 years of training the people who are more street ready are the ones who workout outside the dojo lifting weights and conditioning themselves.

This may seem like common sense it may not to some. I have grown sick of people who think they can beat a 6'5 mountain of muscle, its possible if u can get a good kick to the groin or a throat strike and a few other techniques such as eye gouging.

but otherwise ur done unless u can escape thats ur best bet or avoid the confrontation all together, this is where martial arts are the most effective, awareness.

And just to put this aside before i continue, yes big people have the same pressure points as anyone but they are extremely hard to execute on someone who is larger. I know i'm gonna get bashed by the people who have been brainwashed to think they can beat bigger people, yea they have a slight chance but very slight.

And just to get the record straight by big people i mean people who are not near ur height or weight range because most people will not pick on people who they think can beat them so they are normally bigger and in most cases much bigger but anyway, don't get me wrong, i want to believe i can beat someone who is bigger than me, i'm only 5'10 160, i'm by no means big.

I will definetly say that if u pit a small martial arts against a big attacker they would have a better chance of survival than a small normal person but its a small chance and its a chance to take to train in the martial arts, thats why i am. Now for the striking vs. grappling debate, there is no debate because in a real fight u don't know if it will end up on the ground or stand up, yea a grappler would want to take it to the ground but how can anyone predict he will?

You can't, its impossible, debates like that are just stupid. Anything can happen in a street fight, anyone can win any given day, martial arts will help to prepare u for that but no art can prepare u better than the other, YOU can prepare yourself better by ur training in and outside the dojo.

The art you are training in is just stepping stone, to reach the top you need to take the extra steps to be a better martial artist. I know i'm probably gonna get slammed by some people for this post but its what i believe, after over 7 years of training i have come to this conclusion, yea 7 years isn't much i know but its a logical conclusion.

It is, and always will be, impossible to post a post to end all of these seemingly endless threads. But i'm allowed to voice my opinion.

Martial Art's, is a way of expressing yourself honestly. Being that each style will teach strongly in a particular area, it all boils down to the same reason in which we choose to learn Martial Art's in the first place. But why choose to limit ourselves to only one style? Is one style better than another? No, it is all a matter of opinion. Each individual is different.

Tell me, what is the benefit of limiting to one style. Do we not have only one life to live? Are we to miss out on everything else?

Is it possible to make a diverse and beautiful painting through one color? Can we make a concert happen through one violin?

I follow Jeet Kune Do, not because it's a better style than others, but because it combines the elements of all styles together in one big harmony. But you will never hear me say that it is better than another style, because that would only insult me, Bruce Lee, and all others who study it. Just who am I to say that one is better than another? Have I experienced it myself to know for sure? But Jeet Kune Do combining all elements of styles, I know that every style is great.

Edited by Shouji (09/18/0502:37 AM)

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The only thing a belt is good for is to hold your pants up

Quote: LOL! Yeah, OK. At a minimum, the 6'5 guy has an advantage called "reach". And if you aren't used to dealing with someone who has a reach advantage, you're in for a surprise.

Lol yeah ok. There is also such a thing called skill. You now which one a mean the skill that you get by doing... oh I dont know....martial arts maybe?And also, I think it is vital for anyone to train with people of all sorts of defferent sizes.

You de be surprised the places a short guy can reach!

Skill is supposed to equalise advantages like that. I am not saying that taller people dont have an advantage due to reach. But that is assuming they have the same skill set. That would be a big assumption on anyones part small or big.

Reach is the hardest thing I have to deal with when facing a larger opponent. My natural reaction is to move to the sides, or back from a punch, but if I ever want to fight back, I've gotta learn to move INTO the punch, otherwise I'd be swinging at air the whole time...

As such, my sifu LOVED to pit me up against the 200+lbs ers in my class, or the 7ft tall giants...it was ROUGH!But I've done good in sparring against big guys, and I've never gotten a shot in on others....

the only time I KNOW I can win is if I do an about-face and start sprinting!